This invention relates to faucets and is particularly concerned with a faucet having a pullout spray head or wand connected to a flexible water supply tube. The spray head can be mounted on a fixed base unit or it can be detached from the base unit and pulled out to allow a user to direct water to any desired location.
It is often desirable to provide a spray head with more than one water delivery mode. Multiple delivery modes may include a spray mode and a stream mode. In the spray mode water is discharged in a relatively wide spray pattern comprising a large number of small, individual streams. In the stream mode water is discharged in a single, relatively narrow, concentrated stream. Multiple modes of this type are particularly useful in kitchen faucets, although their use is not limited to kitchens. Lavatories, showers or any other faucet, including a garden hose, may benefit from this feature.
Multiple water delivery modes are commonly provided in fixed faucets by means of a nozzle having a push-pull feature that switches the nozzle between spray and stream modes. Pullout spray heads are known that require the user to hold a button in a depressed state to get an alternate mode. See U.S. Pat. No. 6,370,713. Other spray heads require that separate buttons and/or levers be pushed to change from one mode to another. Examples are U.S. Pat. Nos. 6,220,297, 5,858,215 and 6,290,147. Still other designs use a rocker switch that require opposite ends of the rocker to be pushed to change modes. Non-pullout faucets sometimes change modes by requiring a lever to be slid or twisted, or by requiring opposing actions on a slide. Shower spray heads are known that produce different spray patterns by requiring a dial type device or a lever to be twisted in different directions to change spray modes. Garden hose nozzle designs also typically have a dial type device for changing spray modes.
One difficulty that can occasionally arise in the use of pullout spray heads is the need to momentarily shut off the water or alter its temperature. If the user is grasping the spray head in one hand and has another item, such as a pan or dish, in the other hand then there is no convenient way to manipulate the water controls., The choices are to put the pan or the spray head down, return the spray head to its base, or try to manipulate the controls with a portion of a hand that is still grasping an item. For example, a user might try to manipulate the controls with the palm of a hand while the fingers of that hand retain the spray head. Perhaps an ambitious user might try to actuate the water controls with an elbow. Obviously none of these are convenient. What is needed is a water control incorporated into the spray head. The present invention provides such a control in the form of a pause button.
The present invention is concerned with a pullout spray head which provides multiple water discharge spray patterns or modes and which permits momentary shut off of water flow with a pause button. The mode is selected by means of a single action at a single point of actuation. The user is not required to hold the actuating device in place while using the various modes. The mode is changed simply by pressing the same button, in the same direction, with each successive actuation of the button changing the discharge mode. The spray head will remain in the selected mode until, another actuation of the button or until the water is turned off, at which time the spray head reverts to a home position or mode.
The spray head of the present invention also includes a pause button that momentarily interrupts the water while the pause button is depressed. The button must be held in the depressed position to keep the flow interrupted. Release of the pause button reactivates water flow. The force necessary to actuate the pause button is independent of the water pressure, within the limits of normal household operating pressures (which range from about 10 psi to 125 psi). The pause button is especially useful when the spray head is pulled out because the primary on/off control valve may often be an inconvenient distance from the spray head. The pause feature is also useful in two-handle faucet designs where resetting of the hot/cold ratio may also be inconvenient. The pause feature is applicable to all discharge modes of the faucet.